Tricks Of The Trade: Data Management

By B. Kevin Folsom, CEPPublished in the August 2012 issue of Today’s Facility Manager

QI work for a relatively small manufacturing facility that employs about 500 and has some state of the art manufacturing processes and technology. The technology—from building maintenance to individual manufacturing equipment—comes with all types of data to support its functions. This data is becoming more and more difficult to manage and also mine for proper operational conditions. Ideally, I would like to create a central deposit center to manage these systems with easy access. Do you know of a resource that would work with our many different operating systems (building and equipment) and compile this information in a central point for viewing and alarm conditions?

A I strongly suggest you check out Google Drive (formerly Google Docs). With this online tool, you can create spreadsheets that can be can be accessed on smart phones and shared with an unlimited number of people. Best of all, it’s free! (You can pay a small fee to brand the documents with your company information, if you’d like.) I use it all the time.

As far as integration with alarms and building automation, you will need the assistance of some kind of professional integrator. I recommend Tridium or Honeywell.

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